If you're a writer, and serious about your writing, it is important to find a critique group or beta reader (someone you can hand your work to for candid feedback). You may believe every word you write is golden, and maybe it is, but you still need to hear that from other writers who care about your work and your progress. The following quote is from Edward Fahey, author of The Morning After:
“One thing an early-on writer has to learn, is to be comfortable with and responsive to critique. When five people in a group tell you this chapter sucks; don’t snap back at them with, “Sure, but it gets better in another 6 or 7 chapters!”
Listen. – Thank them. – Consider.
They can look from a fresh perspective, and catch things that you might be too close to see."
You may not agree with them, that's your privilege, after all, it's your poem/story/novel. My problem is using the same word two times in one paragraph and not realizing it, but my critique group (The Write Minds) finds it every time. And then I can fix it.
